Christine's — Restaurant in Atlantic Highlands

My experience was not good I had high expectations after reading the reviews I never post reviews but I figure I would save some people some money and a bad night out the whole experience was terrible the from the food to the staff. The food is boring and not cooked well at all, I had the veal, it was a piece of fried veal with arugula, chopped tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar thrown ontop, not even made into a reduction. Girlfriend had the salmon it was overcooked, came with "sautéed" broccoli, yet it had no salt, pepper or oil, it was bearly even steamed. "Roasted" potatoes were uncooked inside with no flavor if you can't cook a potato there is something wrong! It was not cooked by a chef it was cooked by untrained staff. I wouldn't normally write something like this because everyone gets a bad meal from time to time but the waiter never even came back to ask how our food was, the bus boy would just walk up and take things off the table from your side, you are sitting there and a arm would just come a cross your face he was a young kid that just was not trained properly there is a way you approach a table when people are eating. The owner walks around greeting people, he goes around to all the tables touching the guests on the shoulders and back he must have touched me and my girl at least six times. I get it he is trying to connect with the people in his restaurant but it was way over board. The kicker is he seemed like a nice guy until we tried to voice that the food was not cooked well we said up front that we did not want any thing for free just giving some feed back it turned weird as my date was talking he kept touching her and made her uncomfortable the more she talked the harder the touch got to the point of he was poking her in the shoulder!!! She asked him to stop but he continued, to the point of she pulled away and told him to stop! As she was talking he said "you sure complain a lot!" I mean come on you walk around asking people how things are be ready for the good and the bad if you can't take constructive criticism don't ask, he told us he does a 120 dinners a night and you can't please everyone which he is right but there is a way to handle it, learn from it don't take it personaly, he was condensending, inappropriate, and rude. For the price of the food you can get something better a...

I first have to say that the food was phenomenal! The owner was so friendly and so helpful for my best friend's bridal shower. I am in the entertainment business and know have met many owners of restaurants and he was superb. However, we were told (by Rose) we could get there by earliest of 11:30 AM to set up. We got there at 11:45 (11:30 was NEVER set in stone it was just a time that we could START decorating ...Rose said that also over the phone) myself, and the other bridesmaid walked in with arms full of decorations, ready to go. The hostess Rose, started yelling not even.. she was scolding us in a nasty way, It wasn't." Hi welcome to Christine's" it was more of a you ARE 15 MINUTES LATE!I had a cancel my class in Red bank to be here! You were very rude blah blah... I looked at her and thought she was joking at first and she kept on going ON AND ON... After a few minutes, she was nicer and helped us set up tables, but I have never been spoken to like that when I first walk in the door at a restaurant. Maybe Rose should have better time management herself. What a way to put a damper on the beginning of such a beautiful day for our friend. For someone who is a local and a foodie and who has an influence I will definitely recommend Christine’s for the food but dEFINITELY will tell you to stay away from ROSE she got some thrones!! If you're having a bad day go scream into a...

After many attempts to get a reservation, we finally made it to Christine’s for the first time and it didn’t disappoint! The food was delish, the staff provided excellent service and the owner Chef Ron Marino made us feel like family! For starters, we tried the long hot peppers stuffed with bolognese sauce and mozzarella which had a nice kick to it but was delightful (sorry we were so hungry we forget to take a pic). The prime cut steak special was to die for with a nice char on the outside yet juicy and tender on the inside and melted like butter in your mouth. For seafood lovers, the grouper special was equally good cooked in EVOO and white wine topped with pine nuts and pesto served on a bed of sautéed escarole and mushrooms. Although we were quite full, we were convinced to try the lemon chiffon cake to cleanse the palate and we’re glad we did coz it was soooo good! It was the perfect place for a birthday celebration!!! But be warned, make your reservations way in advance coz it’s a small place and they’re busy all year long! And don’t forget to bring your big fat wallet coz you’ll need...